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 he Sweetest Thing" purports to be a movie about
Girl Power and how independent women have become in the new millennium, but it's
nothing of the sort. Instead, "Thing" is a predictable romantic comedy
that further forwards the notion that what all women really want is a man to
"complete" her life. (This notion, incidentally, is the bane of all
feminist groups anywhere, but I digress.) Seeing as how "Thing" was
written by Nancy Pimental, a woman, this time feminist groups can't blame the
whole idea of man as savior on, well, men.
The best part about "The Sweetest Thing" is that
it does what it does very well. The comedy is on target and the performances
come across as effortless. It also doesn't hurt that the film is anchored by
three especially attractive and photogenic women in Cameron Diaz ("The
Mask"), Christina Applegate ("Just
Visiting"), and Selma Blair ("Legally
Blonde"). The men are led by Thomas Jane ("Deep Blue Sea") as
the love interest and former TV sitcom star Jason Bateman shows up as Jane's
brother. But who cares, really? This is a Chick Flick, and the guys are just
window dressing. (Gee, now I know how women feel watching movies like
"Rambo"...)
"Thing" follows Diaz's Christina as, after
meeting Jane's Peter at a nightclub, she decides to hike down to Peter's neck of
the woods (a small town in California) to "hook up." Christina
believes Peter might be the love of her life and can't stand to lose him to
inaction. Spurred on by her two best friends (the girls all live in one flat),
Christina goes looking for true love -- and (excuse the cliché) hijinks happen
along the way.
The writer of "Thing" is Nancy Pimental, who for
a couple of seasons co-hosted a game show on Comedy Central called "Win Ben
Stein's Money" (the other host was Ben Stein, natch). Being that I am a big
fan of the show, I had a lot of opportunity to see Pimental and get a good feel
for her comedy. Like "Thing," Pimental claims to be a thoroughly
Modern Woman, and perhaps she is, because I doubt if she could survive in any
other era besides this one. She's often carefree, always sexy, and wields
lowbrow humor and a smart tongue like a shield.
"The Sweetest Thing" is like Pimental --
carefree, sexy, and oftentimes lowbrow. Consider a scene in a roadside bathroom
where Diaz's Christina discovers what a "glory hole" is after a penis
stabs her in the eye through a hole in the wall. In another scene, one of
the three friends gets her mouth stuck on her boyfriend's penis, which has a
ring at the end of it; the penis ends up stuck inside the girl's mouth
because the ring has gotten tangled up in the girl's tonsil during -- well, you
know.
To be honest, much of the lowbrow humor in
"Thing" undermines the film's core, which is of the bonds of
friendship. The easy rapport between the three friends is readily obvious and I
laughed at much of the gross out humor. Although a sequence where one of the
friends has to get a semen stain off her dress after a night of debauchery goes
on for just a little bit longer than it should have. Also, a couple of impromptu
fantasy-like dance numbers add charm to the proceedings.
I am by no means an expert on the Modern Female condition,
but I'm inclined to think that Pimental, who has probably been in all of these
situations (although not so exaggerated, of course) at one point or another in
her life, knows what she's talking about. The penis-in-the-mouth and glory hole
jokes are, in all likelihood, part of a slightly hyperactive imagination and not
based on personal experiences. The rest of the film, with its focus on the girls
in their private moments, on the other hand, rings true.
The film works as a harmless and sexy comedy, and the 3
leads are hopelessly affable. Although I have to say, I never did know what the
girls did for a living. I know that one of the girls work at a clothing store,
and one is a lawyer or something, but what did Christina do again? Oh, who
cares, really?
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